Hanbury, Staffordshire, England

The entrance to Hanbury

The Fauld Crater

At 11:11am on Monday, 27 November 1944 at the RAF Fauld underground munitions storage depot, the unthinkable happened. Between 3,500 and 4,000 tonnes of ordnance exploded, sending soil eleven miles in the air and in the process creating a crater with a depth of 100 feet and 250 yards across.

 

A nearby reservoir containing 450,000 cubic metres of water was obliterated along with a number of buildings including a complete farm. Resultant flooding added to the damage. Approximate numbers suggest that 70 people died in the explosion, making it one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and the largest to occur on UK soil.

 

The crater still exists, as does the danger of unexploded ordnance, which means that the site is strictly prohibited and obviously dangerous. However, some visitors to the perimeter claim to experience a feeling of "utter grief" and others have reported sobbing coming from beneath the ground or disembodied voices nearby.

 

Pictured above is a sign warning of the dangers at the site courtesy of Trevman99.

 

52°50'50.9"N 1°43'51.4"W

52.847474, -1.730942.

 

For further information, please read Haunted Britain and Ireland by Richard Jones.

Location

Visitor Information

Hanbury is a rural village in Staffordshire, England.

It is situated 3.3 miles west-northwest of Burton-on-Trent and bounded to the north by the River Dove.

Pictured left is the entrance to Hanbury courtesy of Christine Johnstone. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.